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Allegations about UNRWA

Sir, Your piece by David Bedein (“UNRWA is an impediment to peace,” Comment & Features, October 3) makes unsubstantiated assertions about alleged political activities in UNRWA facilities.

UNRWA’s neutrality team has examined Bedein’s “evidence,” and none of the activities he ascribes to us took place in our installations or have any association with the Agency. They took place in non-UNRWA facilities for which we are not responsible.

Bedein’s organisation was recently exposed by the much-respected academic at McGill University in Canada, Prof. Rex Brynen, for having Kahanist links. To quote Brynen, “David Bedein has enormous credibility problems among serious researchers. His work contains numerous factual errors – for example, falsely associating unrelated activities with UNRWA. Bedein has also published work under the auspices of his organisation with Samuel Sokol – an ultra-right-wing activist who, in pictures he once proudly posted online, can be seen posing with weapons in front of a Kahanist... flag.”

I trust The Jerusalem Post will do its due diligence in the future before publishing material from an internationally discredited polemicist.

Chris Gunness
Jerusalem
The writer is spokesman for UNRWA

Background Information

UNRWA is confronted with an increased demand for services resulting from a growth in the number of registered Palestine refugees, the extent of their vulnerability and their deepening poverty. UNRWA is funded almost entirely by voluntary contributions and financial support has been outpaced by the growth in needs. As a result, the UNRWA programme budget, which supports the delivery of core essential services, operates with a large shortfall. UNRWA encourages all Member States to work collectively to exert all possible efforts to fully fund the Agency’s programme budget. UNRWA emergency programmes and key projects, also operating with large shortfalls, are funded through separate funding portals.

UNRWA is a United Nations agency established by the General Assembly in 1949 and mandated to provide assistance and protection to some 5.4 million Palestine refugees registered with UNRWA across its five fields of operation. Its mission is to help Palestine refugees in Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, West Bank, including East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip achieve their full human development potential, pending a just and lasting solution to their plight. UNRWA services encompass education, health care, relief and social services, camp infrastructure and improvement, protection and microfinance.